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It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

Ive asked this question before but didn't get any response. Is there a good recording device out there (relatively inexpensive) to record your playing? Now I use a little cassette recorder which doesn't do the piano (0r me) justice.

I would like to read answers to this question, also. The most unusual suggestion I have heard is to connect a good microphone to a VCR (and record just audio). The quality of sound from most VCRs these days is supposted to be quite good (if connected to a good system).

Mini Disc is about the best solution here. Remember that you must buy a MiniDisc that has a microphone pre-amp built it--this is usually found on the portable, hand-held models (the home style models don't have this feature). You must then buy a stereo microphone (Sony makes some nice ones) and that's it.

BTW, the same applies to the VCR scenerio. Most VCRs do not have microphone pre-amps built in. Though it is correct that VCR audio is superior to cassette, it is a real pain to work with (even if you have mic pre-amps) because it is such a 'dog' to rewind & fast-forward. MiniDisc is way better and you can name your tracks, edit and re-record---it is really a great medium.

Currently the best MiniDisc maker is Sony, followed by Sharp. I suppose you could get it from any electronics store. I bought mine for about SGD$450, that's about er... USD$280 I think. I bought the MZ-R90, which is a portable/handheld player and recorder. I think the price of this has come down a bit more recently, but you can still get models cheaper than this.

Since this thread started, I have been looking around at minidiscs and found some interesting things:

-Sony's new products are selling like crazy and are somewhat hard to find.-The features on these things are incredibly detailed. The new computer USB port feature is a big improvememnt for those w/o optical outs on their home equipment.-Anyone looking into them may want to see the reviews on amazon, or elsewhere on the web.

I am still on the fence about going with one, instead of an mp3 disc player, but it does seem nothing else would come close to mini-disc in recording quality. Thanks, Matt D.

The web site below was recomended to me from an audiofile who moonlights in the recording area. Its pretty interesting and piano specific (on topic). I thought it worth sharing.